When there’s a recall, consumers think of the name on the package. Often that brand is the single company believed to be responsible, and that company is the one whose reputation is diminished. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than the food industry, where one ingredient from a supplier that consumers have never heard of can spark recalls across big brands and private labels.
Continue ReadingThe biggest news coming out of the Consumer Product Safety Commission lately is Acting Chairwoman Ann Marie Buerkle’s decision to step down from her post when her term ends in October. Members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection seized on that announcement to grill Buerkle and her fellow commissioners about alleged lax CPSC regulation during a recent oversight hearing.
Continue ReadingWYou identified a potential safety issue with your product and conducted an investigation. You worked closely with your regulator to plan for and execute a recall. Your team worked tirelessly to communicate with consumers and fix the issue. Then the regulator closed the recall. And you moved on. Or so you thought. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recently launched separate investigations into whether two GM recalls conducted years ago were inadequate.
Continue ReadingACConventional wisdom suggests that automation and robotics should make products safer by removing the potential for human error adding more precision to production. But some industries are finding that automation is a double-edged sword. The food industry, in particular, has experienced a string of product recalls whose origins can be traced back to automated systems. Take factory farming, for example. Food Quality & Safety Magazine
Continue ReadingMost people have heard of blockchain technology as it relates to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In fact, blockchain was initially developed specifically to record and track bitcoin transactions. As the technology becomes more widely adopted, however, developers and businesses are finding more and more applications for the secure tracking it enables.
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